Eliza Allen served as a private soldier in the Mexican War. She participated in the Battles of Monterrey and Cerro Gordo and was among the American soldiers who occupied Mexico City.
Background
Allen was born to wealthy parents in 1826 in Eastport, Maine. At the age of twenty she fell in love with William Billings, a respectable but poor young man. Allen's parents opposed their marriage, and Billings left, joining a volunteer company to fight in the war against Mexico.
Career
Allen had read about Deborah Samson, who had disguised herself as a man and fought in the American Revolution, and Lucy Brewer, who had similarly fought in disguise as a marine on the frigate Constitution during the War of 1812. Emulating these models, Allen cut off her hair, dressed in men's clothing, and sailed to Portland to enlist as a volunteer under the name George Mead. She met an officer who needed one last man to fill his company and therefore waived the usual physical examination. The company sailed to the Rio Grande, where it joined General Zachary Taylor's army. Allen participated in the American victory at Monterrey in September 1846. Afterwards her company was transferred to the army of General Winfield Scott at Vera Cruz. During the advance on Mexico City, Allen participated in actions against Mexican guerrillas. Her left arm was slashed in the Battle of Cerro Gordo. While being treated, she found William Billings. Allen was not able to rejoin her company until the fall of Mexico City. Her last military action was a small street skirmish. Allen then participated in the occupation of Mexico City until the peace in 1848. Her unit sailed, via New Orleans, to New York, where it was paid off and discharged. However, Allen continued her disguise, working as a man to help Billings until they achieved financial security in 1849.
Physical Characteristics:
In order to enlist as a volunteer in the Army Eliza cut off her hair and dressed in men's clothing.
Quotes from others about the person
Sam Houston: "was satisfied & believed her virtuous… That I have & do love Eliza none can doubt. – that she is the only earthly object dear to me God will witness. She was cold to me, and I thought did not love me. She owns that was one cause of my unhappiness. You can judge how unhappy I was to think I was united to a woman who did not love me."
Martha Martin: "was surprised one evening to find Mrs. Houston at my front door, for she had come to spend the night with us on her return to her home in Gallatin… she seemed somewhat depressed, and by way of explanation said that she and General Houston had agreed to separate."
Connections
On January 22, 1829, Sam Houston married the 19-year-old Eliza Allen at her home near Gallatin, with the Reverend William, the Scottish minister of First Presbyterian Church in Nashville and a friend of Jackson, performing the service. Their marriage unofficially ended on April 11, 1829. By April 1837, Sam achieved his divorce by asking for a hearing before a district court judge, an exception to the law that would have required an act of divorce by the Texas Congress.
On November 8, 1840, Eliza Ellen married 42-year-old Dr. Elmore Douglass, a widower with three young girls. Elmore was the first cousin of her sister-in-law, Louisa Douglass Allen. Together Eliza and Elmore had three daughters and a son, only one of whom lived to adulthood.